The present invention relates to an internal combustion engine, having at least one piston capable of reciprocating in a cylindrical piston bore and acting on a rotatably supported crankshaft via a connecting rod, a rotor containing the piston bore, the rotor being rotatably supported in a housing and coupled for motion to the crankshaft by a gear in such a way that the rotor and the crankshaft rotate in opposite directions, the piston bore disposed in the rotor communicates with an opening in the outer surface of the rotor that upon rotation of the rotor, moves past an inlet opening and an outlet opening of the housing.
An internal combustion engine of this type is known from U.S. Pat. No. 1,598,518. In this known engine, cooling takes place externally, on the one hand with the aid of a water chamber disposed in the vicinity of the spark plugs, and on the other hand with the aid of a fan wheel integrated with the rotor on one end face. This patent does not disclose what kind of lubrication is used for the movable parts.
It is also know as a main characteristic of a piston motor to have arc-formed piston elements in a rotor which rotates in a housing. The piston elements are inside of the rotor guided and movable like valves so that between them and the circumference of the rotor work chambers thereby arise. With levers the piston elements are supported at a fixed axis so that movement of the piston elements as a result of combustion leads to rotor rotation in the working chambers (see, DE-PS 31 50 654). The fuel/air mixture supply as well as the outlet of the exhaust gases will be directed with slides, which are arranged for each work chamber and will be controlled by a section of the rotor as a function of rotation. The disadvantage here is the relatively complicated form of the slide-control, which also exhibits seal problems. Furthermore, because of reasons of production and economy, the use of unusual lift-pistons as piston elements is disadvantageous. Further, it is disadvantageous to have a non-cylindrical work chamber because the cylindrical form of the combustion chamber is better suited for a symmetrical extension of the combustion process, and, for good effect, complete combustion of all combustible ingredients.
A combustion engine is also known from (DE-OS 25797), in which two running pistons running together with, at times, two working pistons are provided which move against each other while rotation of the running pistons lead by a wing portion situated at fixed pivots, is established eccentric to the rotor axis.
The wing portion is extraordinarily susceptible to breakage. Moreover, the mixture inlet and the exhaust gas outlet are not optimally formed. Further, there are combustion engines known from (DE-OS 2339957 and DE-OS 2339958, in which a double effective work piston is established in a rotor bore, whereby the rotor rotates in a housing. Thereby, transposition of the piston motion into rotation follows in such a way that an eye which is established inside of the work piston is forced eccentric to the axle. The construction of this engine is extraordinarily complicated, especially the form of the piston.